Skippy is a 1931 American comedy film about the scrappy boy portrayed in the popular comic strip and novel Skippy by Percy Crosby. The screenplay was by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Don Marquis, Norman Z. McLeod, and Sam Mintz.
John Cooper Jr. was an American actor, television director, producer, and executive. He was a child actor who made the transition to an adult career. Cooper was the first child actor to receive an Oscar nomination. At age 9 he became the youngest performer to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor, an honor that he received for the film Skippy (1931). For nearly 50 years, Cooper remained the youngest Oscar nominee in any category.
Joseph Leo Mankiewicz was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. Mankiewicz had a long Hollywood career, and won both the Academy Award for Best Director and the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay in consecutive years for A Letter to Three Wives (1949) and All About Eve (1950), the latter of which was nominated for 14 Academy Awards and won six.
The House That Shadows Built (1931) is a feature compilation film from Paramount Pictures, made to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the studio's founding in 1912. The film was a promotional film for exhibitors and never had a regular theatrical release.
Norman Rae Taurog was an American film director and screenwriter. From 1920 to 1968, Taurog directed 180 films. At the age of 32, he received the Academy Award for Best Director for Skippy (1931). He is the second youngest person ever to win the award after Damien Chazelle, who won for La La Land in 2017. He was later nominated for Best Director for the film Boys Town (1938). He directed some of the best-known actors of the twentieth century, including his nephew Jackie Cooper, Spencer Tracy, Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, Deanna Durbin, Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Deborah Kerr, Peter Lawford, Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, and Elvis Presley. Taurog directed six Martin and Lewis films, and nine Elvis Presley films, more than any other director.
Skippy is an American comic strip written and drawn by Percy Crosby that was published from 1923 to 1945. A highly popular, acclaimed and influential feature about rambunctious fifth-grader Skippy Skinner, his friends and his enemies, it was adapted into movies, a novel and a radio show. It was commemorated on a 1997 U.S. Postal Service stamp and was the basis for a wide range of merchandising—although perhaps the most well-known product bearing the Skippy name, Skippy peanut butter, used the name without Crosby's authorization, leading to a protracted trademark conflict.
Robert William Armstrong was an American film and television actor remembered for his role as Carl Denham in the 1933 version of King Kong by RKO Pictures. He delivered the film's famous final line: "It wasn't the airplanes. It was beauty killed the beast."
John E. Searl was an American actor. He portrayed bratty kids in several films, and often had only small roles, such as "Robin Figg" in 1934's Strictly Dynamite.
Helen Jerome Eddy was a motion picture actress from New York City. She was noted as a character actress who played genteel heroines in films such as Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1917).
Enid Eulalie Bennett was an Australian silent film actress, mostly active in American film.
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is a 1938 American drama film produced by David O. Selznick and directed by Norman Taurog who had previously directed Huckleberry Finn (1931) with Jackie Coogan and Junior Durkin. The film starred Tommy Kelly in the title role, with Jackie Moran and Ann Gillis. The screenplay by John V. A. Weaver was based on the classic 1876 novel of the same name by Mark Twain. The movie was the first film version of the novel to be made in color.
Young Donovan's Kid is a 1931 American pre-Code melodrama film directed by Fred Niblo, from a screenplay by J. Walter Ruben, based upon the short story, Big Brother, by Rex Beach. It was a remake of a 1923 silent film of the same, produced by Famous Players-Lasky, and directed by Allan Dwan. This version starred Richard Dix, Jackie Cooper, and Marion Shilling. The film also featured Boris Karloff in a supporting role.
Willard Robertson was an American actor and writer. He appeared in more than 140 films between 1924 and 1948. He was born in Runnels, Texas, and died in Hollywood, California.
The Rag Man is a 1925 American comedy-drama film starring Jackie Coogan. The film was directed by Edward F. Cline, and written by Willard Mack. This was the first Jackie Coogan movie made entirely under the MGM banner.
Tom Sawyer is a 1930 American pre-Code comedy-drama film directed by John Cromwell and starring Jackie Coogan. The screenplay by Grover Jones, William Slavens McNutt, and Sam Mintz is based on the 1876 novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain.
Robert Coogan was an American film and television actor.
Huckleberry Finn (1931) is an American pre-Code comedy film directed by Norman Taurog and starring Jackie Coogan as Tom Sawyer and Junior Durkin as Huckleberry Finn. The picture was based upon the 1884 novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain.
Strictly Dynamite is a 1934 American pre-Code film directed by Elliott Nugent and starring Lupe Vélez and Jimmy Durante.
Forbidden Adventure, also known as Newly Rich, is a 1931 American pre-Code comedy film directed by Norman Taurog and starring Mitzi Green, Edna May Oliver, Louise Fazenda and Jackie Searl. Three children - two actors and a king - run away from their constricted lives and have a forbidden adventure. Filming took place from April 2 to May 7, 1931.
Glamour Boy is a 1941 American comedy film directed by Ralph Murphy and written by Val Burton, F. Hugh Herbert and Bradford Ropes. The film stars Jackie Cooper, Susanna Foster, Walter Abel, Darryl Hickman, Ann Gillis, William Demarest and Jackie Searl. The film was released on December 5, 1941, by Paramount Pictures.
